Pinterest Partying

by Jenn (eating bender) on December 13, 2012

Welcome to Eating Bender! If you enjoy books, food and puns - or any combination of all three - you may wish to subscribe to my RSS feed. You can also sign up to receive emails of new posts on the right. Thanks for reading!

As I’m sure many of you know, Pinterest is addicting. You can go through pictures for hours and pin hundreds of recipes and DIY projects that you’ll never make, dozens of clothing items that you’ll never buy, and a few motivational quotes meant to spur you to action as you…sit at your computer on Pinterest. I kid, kind of, but just because it can be a huge time taker doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. You only have to look at the photo above for proof that it is, in fact, possible to make those mouthwatering images come to life.

The concept was developed during my October trip to Chicago. The four of us had gotten together for hot chocolate in Evanston, and though I’m not sure how the subject came up, it’s likely because 3/4 of us are obsessed with cooking (Monica is a culinary school grad) and 4/4 of us love to eat delicious food. It was decided that a shared board should be created on Pinterest, and that the menu would be voted on when I came back in December.

Fortunately, we all had very similar tastes, and it was easy to finalize our courses!

Quite the list, if I do say so myself! We met up on Sunday morning to drive to the grocery store and pick up all of our supplies. Monica graciously hosted us at her apartment, which was festively decorated for the holidays. Also festively decorated: a very Christmas-y Kelli! The green dress and red coat were perfect for the occasion.

We quickly got to work on our respective parts of the meal. My first contribution to the feast was in the form of Chocolate-Nospresso Mint Snowcaps, and I think this was by far my best batch yet. I took to heart the advice of rolling them in powdered sugar not once, but twice, and the end result was perfectly snowy.

I also think that the help I had from Kelli made a huge difference. Together we mixed up two batches of the recipe that each yielded 14-16 cookies. Half were made with peppermint, half without. Monica had an adorable gingerbread house plate for serving.

While Kelli and I were in Cookieland, Monica made sweet pastry crusts and cream for the fruit tarts. Her recipe was an improvisation from culinary school (I wish I could improv like she does), but you can find a similar one here. Both the crust and the inside turned out beautifully, and then it was Lauren’s turn to be the artist with freshly chopped fruit and a honey glaze.

I’d say she did an excellent job, wouldn’t you?

You might think us backward for making the desserts first, but that’s how we roll…in the dough.

Up next, Monica sliced and rolled our Soft Pretzel Tots, while I added baking soda to the pot of water and waited for it to boil. I guess we know who the real chef is, eh? Boiling is hard work…

Throwing the pretzels into the boiling hot water and scooping them out was the fun part! We then brushed them with the egg mixture from the recipe and sprinkled fleur de sel onto the tops before throwing them in the oven. They came out 10 minutes later looking pretty darn cute.

A quick snapshot of the soup pot shows you why this was one highly anticipated dish.

You can never go wrong with a hearty, veggie-filled soup – especially with homemade croutons.

As dinnertime approached, it was time to begin working on the last food item from the menu: Raspberry Brie Grilled Cheese Paninis! With a drizzle of honey over all of the ingredients, you can imagine how flavorful these sandwiches are.

When we sliced them open, there were audible oohs and ahhs, and with good reason.

The meal was complete. But wait, weren’t we forgetting something…?

Only joking. I could never forget the Winter White Sangria with Pomegranate. Lauren mixed up all of the ingredients and watched as those pomegranate seeds rose to the top. This drink was refreshing without being overly sweet. I loved the addition of lime.

As you might have been able to glean from my description of each recipe, this meal was flawless. Every dish, every ingredient, was so rich and full of flavor that we couldn’t stop complimenting ourselves throughout the evening. We deserved it after nearly five hours in the kitchen!

You can bet that we will be having another Pinterest party in the future. We’ve thrown around the idea of having one every season. So many possibilities – I better get pinning!

What Pinterest find have you been loving lately?

Thanks to Monica for hosting, and thanks to all three lovely ladies for being such amazing friends and excellent chefs! I’m so thankful to have you in my life.

So fun! I want to try the pomegranate sangria and fruit tarts (I will never have the time to make the fruit tarts but our pom tree in our backyard is finally yielding some fruit so maybe I can try that one?) You guys are adorable.Cara (Twinthusiast) recently posted..A Truly, Truly Outrageous Birthday

Jenn, I just love your blog posts. Loved re-living our wonderful Sunday Pinterest Party. I had so much fun with you girls and can’t wait to do it again! (And you are too kind giving me a shout out re: the cookies! — it was really all you!). We need to get pinning for our next Pinterest Party. And feel just as thankful to have you gals in my life too. Have a fun trip to St. Louis!

You will definitely have to join us sometime, and if anything we can always make a few Pinterest-worthy recipes in February. 😉 I absolutely love the idea of those race coasters! I hope they have bibs for our relay because that would be awesome!

What a great idea! You’re so clever.
Those pretzel tots have my name written all over them
I am very addicted to Pinterest as well. These days though, I am more into the crafts/organization stuff rather than the food. Go figure! I found some great ideas for gift wrapping that I plan on sharing on the blog soon.BroccoliHut recently posted..Savory Scrambled Eggs

Thanks, Emily! This trip back was jam-packed with two friends celebrating birthdays, but I will definitely be reaching out to you next time when it’s more casual because I would still love to grab dinner with you!

Amazing recap! I think you captured it perfectly. I can’t stress enough how much fun I had and how we need to do it again! I think the collage of the 4 of us is my favorite So glad you were able to make it back here again before the end of the year. Also, I should mention that Patrick loved your cookies… no surprise there Monica recently posted..A Case of The Hiccups

I’m so glad you liked the post, Monica! I feel the exact same way about the party – it was so much fun and I’m ready to do it again ASAP. I love the collage of us and am also happy to hear Patrick enjoyed the cookies! Hope you two had a fun weekend!